"I still can't believe he tried to arrest you guys!"
Hiro sighed from his computer. "Ari, it's been two days, please stop bringing it up."
His sister pouted. She was lying on her bed, reading on her phone, with Mochi curled next to her. "The gang hasn't hung out at the Lucky Cat since he did that! Uhg, I can't believe Megan agrees with what her dad is doing!"
"She's not, that's because you won't let her explain." What annoyed him more than Ari's complaining was that she had the idea in her head that Megan was totally okay with Diego trying to get rid of Big Hero 6. He talked to her yesterday, and she was pretty upset with her dad's behavior. It just made her more motivated to find out about Big Hero 6 to "prove him wrong" which was concerning, but at least she wasn't as much of a threat as Diego was.
It ached to think of his friend as a threat, but as long as Megan vowed to reveal his superhero identity, he kept his guard up around her.
Ari huffed. "Really?"
"Yes, and she tried really hard to get him to not label Globby as a fugitive, it's not her responsibility to try and change her dad's mind or get him to stop making problems for us." Hiro exclaimed. "Baymax?"
"Hiro is correct. Megan has no control over Diego's actions, and it is very unfair for her to be responsible for her dad. Ari, I suggest apologizing to Megan, as you blaming her is a sign of lashing out in anger." Baymax chimed in, his screen showing stressed and angry faces. "Ari, did you argue with Megan because you could not argue with Diego about it?"
The bandana girl looked like she was about to snap at the robot, but Mochi meowing at her seemed to calm her. "Oh jeez… I messed up, didn't I?"
"Yes, yes you did." Hiro shook his head. "Maybe wait awhile before you and Megan make up, alright? Tensions are still hot right now."
"Because of me…"
Hiro sat next to her. "No, because of Diego, he's making everyone uncomfortable with his stupid choice of trying to arrest us and label Globby as a fugitive. It's just that Megan shouldn't pay for the consequences of his actions."
"Megan's never gonna want to talk to me again." Ari sniffled, leaning onto her brother's shoulder. "Neither will June, she's gonna kill me for yelling at her girlfriend, I'm such a screw-up and a-"
Baymax cut off her self-loathing thoughts by picking her up and holding her to his chest, warming her up. "Ari, saying negative things about yourself will not make things better. Mistakes can happen, but you can learn from them, you do not have to insult yourself for not being perfect, because no one is."
'Yeah, even Baymax isn't perfect!" Hiro chimed in.
"That is why I learn new things, so I can better myself as a healthcare companion." He nodded. "Ari, do you feel better?"
She rubbed her arm. "A little… how'd you get so good at talking to people, Hiro?"
He gestured to Baymax. "I had a little help."
Ding!
Hiro's phone chimed, he looked to see Honey Lemon texted him in the superhero chat. "Oh I wonder what's-" But when he read the text, he paled.
Chem Girl: There's a GP attack at NMS!
Chem Girl: Me and Gogo are trying to get everyone out, we need backup asap!
He looked up at Baymax. "Oh no." Both of them chorused.
"What, what's happening?" Ari tilted her head as Baymax gently placed her onto the bed.
"The Galaxian Pirates." Hiro clicked his phone to call Skymax as Baymax called his own.
"Those guys ruin everything!" Ari complained. "Be careful, okay?" She knew that her brother and friends had caught a few pirates sneaking in San Fransokyo after Kamara's snake attack, so this was the first big incident in awhile. "And kick some butt for me."
"Can and will do." Hiro gestured with finger guns. "Want any souvenirs?"
"What, like broken teeth or something?"
"Well if you asked…"
"Ew no! That's gross!"
"Yeah, this is gross." Gogo deadpanned as she was trapped in a gooey substance that smelled ten times worse than Nega-Globby, and that was saying something.
The Galaxian Pirate who had trapped her by shooting with a bazooka just laughed maniacally at her comment. "Oh, it's gonna be nastier when your girlfriend brings back your little colorful posse!" He sneered, drawing a line to his throat. "Lord Indigo will be pleased when you're all six feet under!"
In your dreams buddy. To the engineer's relief, she saw Honey Lemon bring over the rest of their team, the pirate not noticing as he was too busy gloating. "And he'll be so happy that I'll get a promotion to general! My future descendants will have powerful positions in the Galaxian Pirates forevermore because of my victory against Big Hero-"
"What's your name again?"
That question made him freeze his speech. He turned his attention to her, anger blazing in his copper eyes. "How dare you! I am Bruce the Brute! The greatest weaponsmith to ever live-"
"YEET!" He was cut off once more as Fred high jump kicked him across the street and Bruce landed straight into a garbage bin, where he belonged.
Gogo continued laughing as Wasabi cut her free and sliced up the bazooka. "I can't believe you managed to time that." She wheezed.
"You know I had to do it to 'em." Fred shrugged, making everyone else giggle.
Clatter!
Bruce climbed out of the trash. "Oh, laugh all you want." He sneered, tapping his gauntlets. "But you're in for quite the shock!"
Baymax blinked. "I do not understand what you mean by 'shock.'" But Hiro paled as he saw orange sparks emit from the pirate's unusually large gauntlets. Before he could scream for the robot to duck, Bruce shot an orb of electricity at Baymax. "Error, error, reboot initiated-" Baymax sputtered.
"Hey, I recognize that pattern!" Wasabi pointed to the gauntlets. "Way to rip off High Voltage, buster!"
He shrugged. "If they didn't want me to reference their work, then they should've said so." Bruce shot more bolts that Wasabi dodged alongside Fred.
"Well this is annoying!" Hiro squeaked as a bolt grazed his arm, burning some of his armor, but luckily not breaking the skin. "Anyone got a plan?"
"I thought you were the plan guy!" Fred wailed.
"Not always!" He yelled back.
But they had to think fast, they couldn't dodge forever. "Hm, maybe to beat a copycat you have to use the same strategy you used against the original…" Honey Lemon mused. Quick as lightning, no pun intended, an idea formed in her mind. "That's it! Get behind me guys!"
They complied as she formed her bunny armor and the bolts bounced off of it. "What the heck?!" Bruce glared at his gauntlets. "This is supposed to blast through any chemical compound!"
"Not if it's rubbery!" Honey Lemon bounced forward and yanked the gauntlets off of Bruce, as they had no effect on the bunny armor. She tossed them to Wasabi, and he cut them to ribbons. "Now, are you going to come quietly?"
"Never!" Bruce pulled out a phone and started clicking away on it, a car sped down the road and he jumped into it. "I will be baaaaaaaaaaack-!" He shouted as the getaway car faded from distance.
They looked at each other and shrugged. "System reboot complete." Baymax stated as his functions returned to normal. "Have I missed anything important?"
"We saved the day, but the car ex machina let Bruce escape." Fred explained. "Hey Gogo, what did he call himself earlier? I was too busy preparing my awesome sneak attack!"
"He called himself 'Bruce the Brute' and I think he's the guy that makes weapons for them." Gogo recalled.
Hiro picked up one of the broken pieces of the bootleg gauntlet, the markings looked familiar to him. "This looks like some of the tech Trina used when she was stealing data from Mini-Malice." He turned to the others. "This means he hired her to gather robot info for him."
"So we're getting a sequel to Attack of the Robots?!" Fred squealed in excitement.
"Fred that is not a good thing, it could also mean Trina's part of the Galaxian Pirates." Wasabi pointed out. "And she could tell them our identities."
"If they don't already know by now." Gogo wouldn't be surprised if they did.
Honey Lemon remained optimistic as usual. "Well they would've targeted everyone close to us if they did now, it doesn't feel like Trina to tell others about us, she'd want to get revenge on us herself."
"I hope you're right." Hiro sighed. "Either way, we really need to step up our game."
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
TheLittleMermaid: teeth,jpeg
TheLittleMermaid: HIRO WHERE ARE YOU SO I CAN MURDER YOU
Mikan Ferns: Woah there!
TheLittleMermaid: HE DIPPED FAKE TEETH IN SYRUP AND PUT THEM ON MY BED
Hiro Hamada: It was worth it
TheLittleMermaid: YOU ARE SO DEAD
Hiro Hamada: WORTH IT
Rachel Rosemary: I see crimes are going on in this chat as usual
Sara Ferns: Speaking of crimes whoever make the latest villains have greyscale armor needs serious fashion help
Sienna Kline: Agreed it hurts my eyes. They look so tacky
Rachel Rosemary: "and now rach is rolling on the floor laughing because you have killed her with your truths" -Katie
Gogo: Hiro why did you dump fake teeth on Ari's bed
Hiro Hamada: SHE STOLE MY GUMMY BEARS
TheLittleMermaid: THEY WERE THE CHOCOLATE ONES
David Ferns: This reminds me of when Sara and Mika almost killed each other for my mom's cookies
Wasabi: Momakase?
David Ferns: I said mom. That's Sally. I refer to my birth mom as either "mother" or "mum"
Honey Lemon: Kay then! Mums the word!
Sienna Kline: OHMTDIUWUIJDJUSJUDUJSJUDSJUSDJU
David Ferns: I hate this group chat. Mika why did you create this
Mikan Ferns: For the lols!
"Okay is it just me, or is this a rip-off of some other electric baddies we've seen in town?" Tabby's voice stated over the clip some guy filmed of the showdown between the latest baddie and Big Hero 6, Sara felt like the contents of said video need to be played on the house's TV.
"Former baddies!" Josh reminded her. "But agreed, looks like some guy is trying to copycat High Voltage."
"Never in my life have I been so offended." Juniper stated. "The orange lightning means that you're burning out the circuits you moron! This guy is officially my least favorite Galaxian Pirate, and that's saying a lot!"
"Considering one of them tried forcing you into their cult?" Mikan raised an eyebrow.
The dancer glared at her older sister. "No it's because their outfits are tacky- yes because they tried forcing me into their cult!" She gestured sarcastically. "No kidding, Sherlock!"
"Jeez, I was just asking."
The clip was paused as Sally clicked the remote. "Aunt Sally?" Sara turned to her aunt. "Are we being too loud?"
"Where did you get this clip?" Sally's amber eyes stared deep into the screen, her gaze focused on the pirate.
Sara brushed a finger across her cheek in remembrance. "One of Tabby's friends hid in a trash can and filmed, they didn't get much audio out of it."
"I see…" Sally handed the remote to Mikan. "You kids should put on something else, don't worry about those guys." Then she exited the living room and went down the stairs.
"Huh." Mikan changed the TV to Power Rangers Samurai as she stared at the direction Sally went in. "Mom's been sus lately."
David disagreed. "I think she's stressed, everyone at school is talking about this." He wrapped his arms around his chest. "Maybe we've been too rowdy lately."
"Oh please, I'm sure Mom is just having trouble planning the next big test she'll give to her students." Mikan waved it off. "But maybe you do have a point, it's probably the stress."
The conversation paused as Barb walked into the living room. "What are you kids going on about?"
"Hi Mama!" Juniper waved. "We were talking about Sally."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
Sara nodded. "Yep. I was playing a clip of some Galaxian Pirate that ripped off you and Juni's old gauntlets, and Aunt Sally looked at it for a while and told us to change the channel."
"Don't remind me, that guy needs his circuits checked!" Juniper pouted.
Barb glanced at her daughter with a puzzled look. "Yeah, I don't even have to feel his tech to get the picture he didn't set up his rip-off properly." David chimed in. "Did you come here to just ask us about Mom?"
She shook her head. "No, care to explain why there's flour all over the kitchen?"
All of the kids paled.
"Mika did it." Sara and David pointed to their big sister.
She gasped. "Traitors!"
Meanwhile at the Galaxian Pirate's secret headquarters…
The first thing Bruce did when he got back to the base was rant about Big Hero 6. "The nerve of those brats! They ruined my new invention!"
"Cry me a river, they hurt my babies." Kamara rolled her eyes. One of her coral snakes, Hemlock, was wrapped around her neck.
"Oh who cares about your stupid snakes!"
The commander twitched. "Excuse me you little- at least I can come up with my own weapons!"
Bruce growled. "You take that back, scales!"
"Oh it's on!"
Lonna walked into the common room with a bag of chips and coffee, and then felt tempted to walk out as she saw two of her higher-ups duking it out like children. "Uh… is this coffee laced or is this actually happening?"
"Yeah this happens a lot." Burner gestured for her to sit down. "Bruce got beat by Big Hero 6 today."
"I heard." Lonna shrugged, opening her bag of chips. "Want some?"
Burner nodded and took a handful. "Man I hope Lady Voltrax comes back, without Lord Indigo giving basic orders, you can't even have snacks in peace!"
"Speaking of the devil…" The thief gestured as the leader of the Galaxian Pirates walked into the common room with a bag of chips himself.
Indigo cleared his throat and instantly the fighting stopped. "Lord Indigo!" Bruce and Kamara saluted.
"The last thing we need is in-fighting, I better not catch you bickering like children again or else you'll be barred from dinner, understand?"
Both of them bowed in shame. "Yes Lord Indigo."
"Now, as for you two…" Indigo turned to Lonna and Burner. "Go prepare the jail cells."
"Are we going to capture someone?" Burner questioned.
Their leader shook his head. "No, but if you find that intruder poking around the area for the past week, you can put them in the cell, this is for when Lady Voltrax returns." Right, there had been someone sneaking around the place they had their new base in, but they hadn't caught the interloper yet. A glimmer of brilliance was in Indigo's violet eyes, something that hadn't been seen since his lady had gone missing. "I've got the perfect plan, all I need is my beloved to return."
If she returns… Was the comment no one wanted to say aloud.
"If I catch that intruder, I'm going to tear them limb from limb and break all their bones!" Bruce cackled. "I've been wanting to try some of my sledgehammers on a new victim lately."
Lonna winced. "Yeesh." She sipped some of her coffee. I doubt the rest of the Silver Ravens have to share the same living room as someone that violent. Ah well, at least my new boss isn't working us down to the bone for now.
Night had fallen over the city of San Fransokyo, so it was time for everyone in the Ferns household to get some shut eye. Except Momakase, who had trouble falling asleep on most nights so she usually chilled in the garden or kitchen.
As for Juniper, she was pretty tired so she was going to sleep. "Goodnight Mama!" But not before wishing her mama sweet dreams.
"Goodnight Juni." Barb gave her a hug. "But next time you and the others bake cookies, make sure to clean up, okay?"
"In my defense it happened while I was gone." She huffed. "I didn't think they'd just leave it!"
Barb chuckled. "I should've seen that coming, don't stay up texting your friends, alright?"
"Mama it was one time-!"
"And one time only."
Juniper pouted but she didn't complain. "Okay, sweet dreams." She went back to her room and closed the door.
Just as Barb was about to go to hers, she noticed that Sally was walking down the stairs. Barb was in the kitchen to have a midnight snack before bed, so her friend didn't notice her as the professor exited the house. What are you doing, my friend?
Curiously overtook her so she followed after Sally, right as she was about to enter her car. "Sal!" She spoke up. "Where are you going?"
"Uhhhhhh…" Sally trailed off. "Nowhere?"
Barb narrowed her eyes, clearly not believing her.
"Okay, I was going to the desert."
"I knew it!" She had suspected Sally had to have gone out of the city at least. "Why the heck are you going out there for the past week?! All your kids, my daughter included, have noticed by now!"
Sally looked guilty at the reminder. "I know, look it's none of their business so I haven't told them." Her cheeks turned red from embarrassment. "That's why I only go out at night."
That explains why she's so tired if she's been pulling all-nighters every now and then. "Well, then I'm going with you." Barb declared.
"Wait what?! You can't!"
She narrowed her eyes once more, which got her friend to budge. "Okay fine, tomorrow first thing in the morning."
"What happened to going out at night?" She questioned.
Her friend pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh for the love of- it's less suspicious if it's both of us. I'll just tell Steven we're going out to catch up n' stuff, alright?"
As much as Barb wanted to interrogate Sally more, there were more opportunities in the morning. "Alright." She agreed. "If you go without me, I'm telling everyone in the house."
"Oh great." Sally rolled her eyes. She turned off the car and went back inside.
For some reason, that response started Barb's train of thought. How come she sounded so annoyed? Sally's normally fine with me or even Steven tagging along on her outings back in the day. But this wasn't their college years, and she hadn't seen either of them in years. She seemed rather moody at the thought.
It was puzzling to her. It's as if she has some secret she doesn't want me to find out. It was at that moment, when she thought Sally had some kind of secret, did her thoughts take a dark turn. Is she maybe cheating on Steven?! And that's why she's so dodgy about her trips?
Oh don't be silly, she'd never cheat on sweet ol' Steven. The rational part of her brain argued. But then again, she had thought August had only eyes for her-
The reminder of her ex-husband's long list of affairs sent daggers through her heart. I really hope that's not true. I don't think I could take anymore secrets at this rate.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
TheLittleMermaid: pink,jpeg
Rachel Rosemary: OH
Rachel Rosemary: MY
Rachel Rosemary: GOD
Hiro Hamada: I hate this
Gogo: what the heck happened to your hair
Fredzilla: It looks like cotton candy : D
TheLittleMermaid: As revenge for that fake teeth prank, I swapped Hiro's shampoo bottle with hair dye!
Hiro Hamada: YOU ARE THE WORST
Mikan Ferns: oh my goddddd
Hiro Hamada: Even worse she showed this to everyone in my gc and they all laughed at me : (
Hiro Hamada: Even Karmi!
Honey Lemon: It looks very cute though
Hiro Hamada: : (((
Sara Ferns: I'm not even phased. This is like that candyland dream I had
Wasabi: The what
Sara Ferns: O_o
Mikan Ferns: How is it an accident for you to type that, we're not speaking allowed
Rachel Rosemary: The things I've said on Blipcord man…
TheLittleMermaid: HIRO SNITCHED
Hiro Hamada: GOOD
Mikan Ferns: Do you two really have nothing better to do
Gogo: You're one to talk
Mikan Ferns: HOW DARE- oh true
Sienna Kline: And just like that I'm going back to sleep.
The next morning…
"Morning Barb!" Sally cheerfully greeted her friend. She was checking the car tires as Barb walked outside. "Did you tell Steven we were leaving?"
Barb nodded. "Yeah I did." She wondered why Sally couldn't just tell Steven herself, which seemed to add more evidence to the cheating theory- Okay I've got to stop. Maybe Sally just really needs some time to herself this week.
"Great!" She beamed. "Let's get rolling then!" Sally entered the driver's seat while Barb got in on the opposite side. Once both of them got in, Sally turned on the engine and drove off.
They didn't speak until they got to the outskirts of the city and Barb could see the sandy desert in front of them. "It feels just like yesterday when Steven and I first met you here."
Sally chuckled. "You mean when you found me already halfway under the ground?" She had spent days in the desert trying to find the nearest civilization, and was barely lucid when they found her. "Brings back memories!"
"Yeah, lucky for you it had been the day when we were helping a friend of hers on a herping trip here." Barb recalled. The memory was rather fuzzy so she had difficulty remembering said friend. "I think it was with… Chara?"
"Xara." Sally corrected her. "Did you know that she's a police officer now?"
"Oh, really? Here in San Fransokyo?"
"No, she works in Port Angeles now. Last time we talked she mentioned there were a lot of incidents at that donut store."
Barb sighed. I guess some things never change. "Do you still call Professor Granville 'Mom?'"
"Hey! Don't mention that to my kids!" She blushed. Which caused Barb to laugh at her friend's reaction. "Anyways, we're here."
Sally had pulled the car over by a sand dune that had an oddly shaped cactus planted above it. "We're lucky it's not windy, last time I was here I got sand in places I didn't think I could get sand in!"
"Huh, noted." Barb commented as they both got out. "So you just hang around here?"
Her friend shook her head. "No, follow me."
Curious, but also dreading what she was being led to, Barb followed after Sally with a sense of wariness.
I'm kind of glad to have company with me while I'm here. Sally shivered, despite the hot temperatures of the desert. It had taken less than twenty minutes to walk towards her destination, but it felt like a long time. Not sure why Barb's been glaring at the back of my head the entire time, does she think I'm gonna drag her into another expedition again?
Well to be fair, that was what they were doing. She let out a sigh of relief as she saw the familiar stone archway. "Wait a minute!" Barb's voice froze Sally in her tracks. "What is that?!"
She gestured past the stone archway, down the hill of the archway was a set of houses built from clay and bricks, vines and other vegetation overgrown all over the place. Clearly no one had lived in this small village for years, if not decades. Sally swore she could still smell ash drifting in the wind.
"You'll see." Sally didn't bother answering as she sped down the hill and into the town square. There were two sets of footprints that hadn't been there yesterday. "Huh, that's new."
As she was about to continue patrolling the area, something jerked her back. She almost punched whoever grabbed her before recognizing Barb's angry expression. "Would you slow down for five seconds?!" She demanded. "What is this place? Why are you coming here so often?!"
"Jeez Barb, calm down." Sally winced. "I'll tell you, don't shout."
Her words did not help at all. "You better!"
"This was my old hometown."
Instantly, the anger inside Barb deflated. "Oh." She stepped back. "You mean the one that-?"
"Burnt down, yep." Sally gestured. She walked to one of the larger houses across the square. "See this house? That's the one I grew up in."
The older blonde's eyes widened. "Huh. I thought your house would be more… fancier." She gestured.
"Yeah, it used to look real pretty, my dad used to garden before he married my mom, and part of his wedding gift to her was he created this beautiful flower garden on the property." Sally's amber eyes were full of nostalgia as she recalled the happier memories of her childhood. "It was one of the first things that they burned."
Barb raised an eyebrow but didn't question further. Don't push, not with her. "Huh, and to think I thought you were meeting someone here-"
"Uh, why would I do that here of all places?"
A blush of embarrassment appeared on her cheeks. "...Because I thought you were cheating on Steven."
Burner groaned as he rested aside a building. "Man I hate it when we get patrol duty."
"I know right." His twin chimed in, flicking sand off of his shoulderpads. "What kind of idiot would come here anyway?"
"Yeah, that 'intruder' is probably Kamara playing a prank on Lord Indigo." Burner suggested. "She's really mad she got demoted because of the rat spawn's sister."
Smokey glared at him. "Dude, don't say that or you'll-"
"YOU THOUGHT I WAS WHAT?!"
Both twins paused their conversation, then looked at each other. "Intruder?" Burner raised an eyebrow.
Smokey lifted up a bat. "Intruder…"
"What do you mean you thought I was cheating on my husband?!" Sally gaped. "I would never! You know me at this point!"
Her friend's reaction was all that it took for Barb to confirm that she jumped to the wrong conclusions and messed up. "I know, it's just that the last person that kept a secret from me ended up being that."
Sally's initial burst of anger cooled down. "Figures. You're not that crazy-"
"Wow thanks, I feel so much better." She sarcastically replied.
"But wow, you don't talk to a person for a few years and suddenly you jump to the wildest of conclusions about them!" Barb glared at her with irritation. "What?!" Sally gestured.
The older blonde pinched the bridge of her nose. "Wasn't the last thing you said to me in our last convo those years ago was 'Fine! Be that way, but when you find out you're wrong, don't even bother coming back!' or was I just imagining things?"
The professor flinched, her shoulders sagged and she turned around. "Oh… right…" She had just been so frustrated her friend wasn't listening
"Don't tell me you forgot what you said?" Barb questioned. When Sally didn't respond, she felt disappointment. "Seriously Sal?"
"We never did talk about that." Sally refused to turn around and look her friend in the eyes, too ashamed to see her disappointment. "I have no words, there's nothing I could do to make you forgive me, and that's what I deserve."
Barb disagreed. "Sally, no." Maybe in the earlier months when she had left her ex she had thought of her old friends with anger, but she could never truly hate Sally, even if she was still a hothead as she was in her youth. "You-"
Sally didn't want to hear her friend chewing her out, so she sped away until she was between two old houses. Why did I have to yell at her back then? Maybe if she had been calmer about the situation, Barb wouldn't have been alone when she finally escaped that awful situation she was in.
She sighed as she heard footsteps behind her. "I don't want to hear it Barb, I already know what you're going to say."
Barb said nothing. That's odd… maybe I should turn around-
Thwack!
Something hard hit the side of her head, and she blacked out.
Meanwhile…
Steven paused from chopping carrots and placed a hand to his throbbing head.
"Dad, are you okay?" Mikan reacted to the sudden action.
"I'm fine, sweetie." He gently reassured her. "I just got a migraine." And a bad feeling… probably means Krei's gonna call me into work soon.
...Or one of the kids is doing someth- "Sara what have you got there?" He noticed his niece slinking around the corner.
"A water balloon I'm gonna use on Mommykase!" She sped downstairs.
"SARA NO-"
"C'mon, c'mon, where are you Sally?" Barb whispered as she glanced around the houses. I leave her alone for five seconds and she's vanished!
Her thoughts grew more worried as she walked past old houses. Did she leave me behind for thinking she was cheating? Sally did used to be vindictive back in the day, perhaps she brought back that certain mean streak for slighting her.
"Did you have to hit an old lady?" She overheard a voice and quickly ducked behind some boulders.
"You heard what Lord Indigo said, any intruders will be brought to the prison cells!" As she peeked behind the rock, she saw two red-haired individuals bickering.
Even worse, they had an unconscious Sally in their arms. Oh no that's the Galaxian Pirates. Barb recognized them in a heartbeat. They took Sally!
"Yeah but, didn't this place have tourists?" One with darker red hair complained. "We're gonna fill those cells real quick if we keep snatching tourists."
"This one is the intruder snooping around trying to find our base, we need to get rid of any witnesses!" The other with lighter hair argued. "Besides, if we snatch any tourists, it just means Father will have test dummies that aren't us."
The other shuddered. "If I have to practice combat with another one of his inventions…"
"Agreed, now let's keep moving."
Barb kept following them as they carried Sally, if she followed them, she'd follow them to whatever hideout they were talking about. Don't worry Sal, your old friend is coming for you.
But that begged the question, why was Sally trying to find their base?
Dull lights flickered over Sally's eyes as she drifted to consciousness. Okay what the heck happened…? She wondered if she was hungover, but she usually was way more tired than this. When getting up, her blood ran cold as she realized she was in a dusty cell with iron bars that was dimly lit and guarded by two people in grey uniforms.
Grey uniforms that had a star symbol on their chests. "I knew it! You're the Galaxian Pirates!" She pointed a finger at the guard with a big tooth.
"My name is Lonna." She deadpanned.
"Jets! Use your codename!" The other one with ginger hair scolded her.
"Oh, sorry Smokey the bear, some of us were part of groups that didn't have stupid codenames."
"You take that back you bird-brained brat!"
Lonna rolled her eyes again at her co-worker.
Wait a second… Sally realized she was the only one in the cell. "What the heck did you demons do to my friend?!"
"Demons? I'm insulted." Smokey sneered. "We're prophets, here to save your city from stupidity." He leaned over the side of the bars, smirking as Sally glared daggers at him. "Oh don't like at me-"
He got a face full of spit and a kick to his knees. "Oh, don't give me that look." Sally mirrored back at him as he wheezed and cursed on the ground.
"Why you little-" He attempted to scramble back up but was dragged across the floor by an irate Lonna and another pirate.
"Dude this is why you're never put on guard duty." Burner looked embarrassed.
"What did you do to my friend?!" Sally demanded.
That was a mistake as both brothers turned to each other in confusion. "What friend?" Burner narrowed his eyes. "You weren't alone?"
Sally paled. "Well uh… who do you think drove me here? She's probably long gone by now!"
"Yeah right." Smokey scoffed.
"Burner, Smokey." Both of them stood up and saluted a pirate that approached the cell.
Lonna stammered as she mimicked the salute. "L-Lord Indigo!"
Oh no, this is bad. This is very bad. Sally paled. The leader of the pirates was right in front of her!
"How is the prisoner?" He questioned.
"Contained, sir!" Smokey reported.
Indigo narrowed his eyes. "That's funny, I could've sworn I heard you getting attacked by said prisoner…"
He paled. "Well-"
"Enough." He glared at the trio. "Leave us."
"Yes sir!" They all squeaked and ran out.
Once alone, Indigo turned to Sally. "Now then…" His purple eyes stared like a cat watching his prey dangle. "What were you doing so close to our base?"
"What base?" Sally tried to deny it.
Indigo didn't buy it. "Oh please, I've seen your footprints, you were trying to find us, and now you have!"
"I'd say it's nice to meet you, but considering your goons hit me over the head, not really." She sneered, despite her hammering heart. I won't show them fear.
"I got to say, I wonder why a professor from SFIT was poking around." Her eyes slightly widened. "Yes I did a little background search while you were unconscious, no family except your husband and three kids."
Her eyes turned to slits. "If you lay one hand on any of them I swear I'll-"
"Hold on, I'm not finished." Indigo continued. "You walk here like you used to know these streets, used to live in Anderson?"
Anger bubbled at the surface. "So what if I did?" She snarled. "Clearly I don't anymore after what you people did!"
"I wasn't even conceived when that little incident happened, but my former mentor Lady Shadowclaw did boast about her deeds, Anderson being one of them." Indigo smirked.
Little?! "You burned an entire town, killed people, including my family, and you call it a little incident?!" Sally exploded in rage. "What was so important to you scum that it was worth burning an entire neighborhood!?"
Despite the predicament she was in, at least she could take comfort in finding answers why her childhood demons had done such horrible things.
However, she realized too late the downsides of finding out why. "My lady liked to call such things 'culling the unworthy,' you see."
Sally couldn't respond, couldn't say anything as bile rose in her throat and she felt nausea from her head to her stomach, still, Indigo continued. "Those who manage to survive are allowed to join us." He paused to glance at Sally a bit more. "Are you from the Grimms family, per any chance?"
"What did you do to them?" She whispered angrily. Sally already knew her parents were gone, but she had siblings once, cousins too from several aunts and uncles.
"It wasn't me! It was those who stopped us, I'm afraid that none of your family are here, they're all gone now." Indigo raised his hands in indignation.
Sally glared. "They were gone the moment you forced them into your cult." She felt a mix of emotions she hadn't felt since running away once seeing her home on fire. "You'll never get San Fransokyo."
"Oh dear, I've already won." Indigo smirked. "It's just only a matter of time until people realize it."
He then began to walk off. "And can you idiots stop leaving random crates in the halls?!" Then there was silence.
Once alone, Sally allowed a sob to escape her throat. They know about the kids, they did it all because of some "culling" nonsense, and I don't even know where Barb was. She felt trapped in a deep hole she could not get out of, and water was starting to fill in.
And I never even got to say goodbye to Steven… He would freak out once realizing she was gone, if he hadn't already.
Guilt wormed her chest at the realization that her "disappearance" was going to cause her family so much pain, and that they'd never even know what happened to her, for there was no way that Indigo would let her stay alive for another-
Creak-Creak-Creeaaaak.
There was… a moving crate? Sliding towards her, Sally watched until it slid right up to her. "Uh…" She trailed off.
The crate popped as it opened and she was greeted by Barb's relieved face. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"
"B-Barb?!" Sally exclaimed, shocked to see her friend. "Did you-"
"Come to save you after you got captured by pirates? Yes, yes I did." Barb smirked. "It was kind of hard to sneak in, hence the crate."
Sally stared at her. "Why?" She didn't understand why her friend risked her life to save her.
"You really think I'd abandon you?"
"I did it to you."
Barb frowned at her. "Sally…"
The professor winced, expecting to hear the rant she was anticipating from your friend.
"It wasn't your fault."
Huh? Sally frowned. "But-"
Barb interrupted her. "He got into my head then, even if you didn't leave, I still pushed you away and didn't listen to your warnings, you were just trying to help."
She knew her friend had a point, but she still felt responsible. "I just wish I could've helped you more…"
"I know." Barb glanced nervously in the direction Indigo left. "I overheard your conversation with their leader."
Sally flinched. "Did you hear everything?"
"Mostly the part about how this used to be your old home, and what happened to your folks." Barb's expression. "I'm sorry you went through that too."
She extended her hand over to Barb. "It happened a long time ago, I'm okay now." Barb herself had lost her parents when she was young, she understood why her friend looked so upset.
"Was that why the time Wendy tried helping you with your memories… it backfired?" She asked.
The professor nodded. "Yeah, it was why." The incident had been so traumatic on her mind, she had forgotten it for a time, Wendy had offered to help her recover her memories when she didn't know why her town had been set ablaze. "It was bad."
Barb had begun trying to lockpick the door. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Might as well since that jerk brought it up!" Sally grumbled. "Growing up here… it was okay, my parents expected me to be a stay-at-home mom since most people in the family did that, jokes on them I didn't do that!" She still missed them. "The day the fire happened… my little brother Jayden and I were releasing a fox pup back into the wild."
Barb paused from lockpicking to raise an eyebrow at her. "A fox pup?"
"It got caught in a poacher's trap so Jayden helped release it. We were on our way back to town when we saw the smoke." Sally continued to explain. "Jayden got scared and wanted to run home but I told him to stay put since I was going to investigate, I told him to run and get help if I didn't come back…" She began to tremble as the violent memories came back to her.
Click!
The door unlocked and Barb rushed over to hug her, but she continued. "I saw the Galaxian Pirates doing horrible, horrible things… managed to get away but not completely unscathed." She held up her left hand, gesturing to her missing pinky. "I never saw Jayden again, I like to think he's still out there but…" Jayden was barely ten when it happened, the chances of him escaping the pirates in the desert were extremely low, she had barely escaped thanks to the confusion of the flames.
"And you got found on the borders of San Fransokyo with gaps in your memory." Barb realized. "Sally I-" She knew what happened to the professor was bad but she didn't realize it was that bad. "And he called it a-"
"Culling, yeah the pirates think they're better than everyone." Sally answered, she noticed her friend's heartbroken face. "Barb, it happened decades ago, I'm-"
"Sally, if you ever say that it's fine after talking about your trauma I am going to drag you to the closest therapist's office." She argued. "That entire thing was messed up, you didn't deserve that and oh dear no wonder you tried looking for them when they started showing back up."
Sally winced. "In hindsight that was a bad idea."
"No kidding." Barb deadpanned.
"Maybe I should've told the superheroes my suspicions like last time, but I'm not letting kids go up against those monsters!" She wasn't sure how old Big Hero 6 was, but she knew they were the same age as her kids.
Barb stared in confusion. "Last time?"
"Well a few years after I moved here, I heard they were sniffing around so I told Boss Awesome and he did as the kids say and 'yeeted' them out of here." She explained, giggling a little at her friend's reaction to her using the term "yeet."
Barb shook her head. "Sally, c'mon, let's get out of here." They started walking out of the hall.
"Thanks for coming to get me." Sally smiled at her.
Her friend returned the smile back. "Always."
"Uhhhhhhhh." Lonna winced as she witnessed both Burner and Smokey lying on the ground in pain after their fight with Bruce, who had been testing one of his new inventions.
"And this is why I'm higher ranked than my idiot brothers." Flare gestured to the scene.
Lonna turned to her. "Didn't you get knocked off a roof multiple times by Kat and Big Hero 6?"
"Don't remind me of those clowns!"
She raised an eyebrow. "Uh, so my job here is done. I'm going now." Lonna went in the direction of the barracks, as she was dead tired and wanted to sleep.
"Ah, I don't blame her." Flare shrugged. She walked over to her brothers and nudged them with a kick. "Get up, you babies! How are we going to take over the city if you can't even deal with Bruce when he's being a brute!"
"Shut up Flare." Both of them chorused.
Flare scoffed, but then heard footsteps. "What are you looking at?" She glared at the two women sneaking down the hall, who were staring with confusion.
"Uh, nothing!" The blue-haired one spoke up. To her confusion, neither were wearing uniforms.
I hate it when we get newbies who don't follow protocol. "Uhg, you guys aren't supposed to wander without your uniforms, it's against the rules!"
Both of them stared at each other, shrugging, then the blonde one spoke next. "Sorry, we're still getting used to all the rules n' stuff." She gestured. "We'll go do that right now."
Flare smirked, proud she got to flex her superior authority. "Well since it's an honest mistake, I'll let it slide once."
"Thanks!" The blue-haired one grinned. As they walked past her though, Burner instantly shot up.
"Hey!" He pointed a finger at the blue-haired one. "That's the prisoner! Who let her out!?"
Confused, Flare turned to her brother. "Wait what? We had prisoners?"
"Yes we-" Burner paused. "They're getting away!"
Flare turned back, and the two women started booking it down the hallway. "Get Smokey up, we're making sure they don't get far, or else Dad is going to kill us!"
"Y'know, the latest ones are a lot dumber than I remember." Sally commented once they fled the hideout and found themselves at the edge of the burnt town. "Guess they didn't always escape unscathed from a base of operations, y'know?"
"Less talking about their secret underground base, more running." Barb gestured.
"Right." They got halfway across the town when a fireball went flying past them. "Uh oh." Sally turned around to see Flare and her two brothers speeding after them. "Can you give it a break?! Promise to not snitch if you let us go, I am not in the best of moods and you do not want to cross me!"
Smokey scoffed at the threat. "Oh please, I'm soooo scared of a bunch of hags."
Barb and Sally exchanged offended looks. "I think we should deliver a bit of payback via knocking them out so we can escape."
"I second that idea." Barb nodded.
As they finished speaking, Burner charged at them with fire around his hands. Barb turned, blue electricity dancing around her wrists, and sent a shock that knocked him back a few inches. "Okay, this just got tough." Flare commented. But she summoned a ball of fire. "Too bad you're playing with fire!"
She charged and leapt. "Sal, look out!" Barb warned as Flare tossed a flame at Sally, the professor barely dodged and kicked Flare's leg to knock her off balance. She managed that but then Flare's next fireball struck her arm.
"Hot, hot, hot!" Sally hissed as pain flared up and down her entire right arm. She noticed Flare getting back up and delivered another kick despite the burning sensation blurring her senses.
Burner attempted to go for Sally's other arm, but another volt caused him to go flying across the field and landing head-first into a cactus patch.
Smokey winced at the fate of his twin. "Glad that's not me."
"Are you sure about that?" He yelped as Barb appeared behind him and next thing Smokey knew, he also got tossed into the cactus patch, but instead landed on his butt.
As soon as Flare got up, she became aware of her screaming brothers and both Sally and Barb glaring daggers at her. "I surrender." She held up her hands in defense, knowing she was outnumbered and did not want to share their fate.
Sally smirked. "Should've said that before you burned me." She then threw a punch at Flare, knocking her out, then winced from the force of said punch. "Ow… I really need to work on my technique."
"Let's talk about that when we're in the car and not in danger of more of them showing up." Barb reminded her.
"Agreed."
Due to the burn Sally got, she couldn't drive without it irritating her, so Barb took the wheel as they were driving back to San Fransokyo.
"I wonder how long we were out." Sally looked out the window. "We got here early and now it's sunset."
"I'm just lucky that they didn't do anything to you in those hours." Barb pointed out. "I hope…" She subconsciously rubbed the chip scar on her neck, which Sally noticed.
"I thought it was cool how you zapped them into the cactus." She changed the subject. "Like what happened to the hyenas in The Lion King."
Barb snickered at the reference. "Well that was unintentional, for the first guy." She grinned. "Not that he didn't deserve it."
"Yeah, they knocked me out." Sally scoffed. "At least they aren't creepy as their leader…"
There was silence for a few moments.
"I'm sorry for thinking you were cheating on Steven." Barb sighed. "If I didn't say that, we wouldn't have been in that situation."
"Barb no, you're allowed to talk about your thoughts, even the bad ones." Sally protested. "I'm sorry for being, well as my niece would put it, 'sus.'"
"...Really?"
Sally grinned. "The embarrassment on their faces as I reference their meme culture is worth it Barb."
The older blonde rolled her eyes. "You're still the same as ever." She chuckled. "It was really brave of you to talk about what happened. Not a lot of people who go through trauma can talk about it to someone else." Barb placed a hand to her chest. "I can't do that."
"Barb, acknowledging what happened to you was traumatic is brave itself." Sally pointed out. "I've met people who didn't even consider what happened to them as traumatic as all, give yourself more credit, you saved the day back there."
A small blush appeared on her face. "Thanks Sal, you are, and always will be my best friend."
Sally couldn't reply because of the water in her eyes due to the totally invisible ninja chopping onions nearby. "You're my best friend t-too, so I just want to make sure y-you're happy, okay?" She sniffled.
Barb smiled, she extended her hand across the console, and Sally gripped it tight as both of them started to let out all of their worked up emotions. "It's o-okay Sal, it's okay."
They stayed like that until they drove back into the familiar traffic streets of their home.
Ferns and Nerds group chat:
Sara Ferns: My aunt is FINALLY back from whatever shopping trip she and Barb were doing
Hiro Hamada: And you're telling me this because?
Sara Ferns: Juni was getting a bit anxious
Hiro Hamada: Ah.
Gogo: wrong chat
Sara Ferns: FLUFFERS
Sara Ferns: Wait
Mikan Ferns: Uh was that the new censor bot?
Hiro Hamada: Ye
David Ferns: You can't call it shopping trip if they didn't bring anything : (
Sienna Kline: Road trip?
Mikan Ferns: burn,jpeg
Wasabi: OUCH
Sara Ferns: Yeah idk what happened but Aunt Sally got roasted
Sara Ferns: I call sus
Fredzilla: Emergency meeting
Hiro Hamada: Whyyyyy
TheLittleMermaid: I saw Mikan vent
Mikan Ferns: WTH ARI
David Ferns: I'm voting Mika
Mikan Ferns: DAVE WHY
Fredzilla: You have been ejected
Mikan Ferns: I hate all of you and this group chat
Hiro Hamada: You reap what you sow
"I got really worried when you were gone by lunch and I thought-"
"Shh, it's okay Juni. Mama's here and she's not going to go anytime soon, alright?"
Sally recoiled a wince as she overheard Barb and Juniper's conversation. "Alright, Mama." Guilt wormed in her chest, as Juniper wouldn't have been stressed out so much if Barb had been here in the first place.
But if she wasn't with you, you wouldn't have ever made it back. The logical part of her brain reasoned, which helped a little. Her thoughts were cut off by another burning pain. "Ow! That's too close!"
Steven, who had been applying salve for her burns and bandaging her arm, frowned. "Sorry Sally, that's just the medicine kicking in and making sure you don't have long-term damage."
"I know, but I don't like playing with fire." Sally mentally cursed the flame-welding pirate and her two brothers.
"We're going to have a talk once the kids are asleep." Steven shot a glance at Barb. "That includes you."
Both of them exchanged eye contact and sweatdropped.
Later…
"We didn't exactly have a normal joy ride." Sally started explaining as all their kids were asleep and they were chatting on the patio. "We went to the desert."
Steven raised an eyebrow, but he nodded. "Go on."
"I was… afraid of the Galaxian Pirates, so I was trying to look for them in my old hometown." She turned to Barb. "I can't talk about this again."
So then Barb filled in. "They burned her home to the ground, Sally thought they were going to do the same to San Fransokyo and was trying to see if they were camping by the ruins of her town. She was right, but we got caught and managed to escape."
"But not without injury." Sally raised her right arm, pointing to the burn wound.
As they finished the bare minimum of details, Steven let out a sharp exhale. "At this point it's a miracle I don't have a head full of grey hairs." He wrapped his arms around both of them. "I'm so, so happy you came back, injury or not."
"I wasn't going to let those jerks take anything else from me." Sally murmured.
Barb was the first one to pull apart from the group hug. "It was my fault, I got into an argument with Sally and got us both caught."
Sally groaned. "For the last time it was not your-" but Steven cut her off.
"Let Barb finish talking." He gestured. "Why do you think it was your fault?"
"Because the only reason Sally brought me along was because I insisted." She explained. "I thought… it's stupid, but I thought that she had been seeing someone behind your back."
"Barbara."
"Let me finish." She was shaking now. "I know that's a stupid thought, but I was just scared that things could've fallen apart like what happened with me and A-Aug… him." Barb struggled to get the words out, silent tears streamed down her cheeks. Sally wasn't the only one who had her raw emotions torn open today. "I'm sorry for not trusting both of you."
Steven's response was to give her another hug. "It's not your fault, you just thought like that because of what you went through, that's all." He fought to keep his voice warm and comforting. Being angry at a man nowhere near them wouldn't do Barb any favors, so he kept his cool.
"Well, at least my theory about them in the desert is correct." Sally broke the tension. "The question of what I'm gonna do with this information is the real problem."
"Tell Grace, she could relay that to Big Hero 6." Steven suggested.
Just like when Barb suggested that, Sally took offense. "I am not sending children to deal with those savages!"
"They already deal with them coming into the city with the snakes and their 'shakes." Steven gestured. "I already got injured as a bystander, I don't want any of our kids to get caught in the crossfire as well."
Sally exhaled. "Fine, I'll tell her." She stood up and walked out of the patio, coming back with a few glasses and a bottle of red wine. "But since today was all kinds of trauma, might as well have a treat."
Barb stared at the bottle which was ironically her favorite kind of wine. "Okay where did you have this lying around?"
"The wine cabinet next to the fridge."
"Wait, you guys have a wine cabinet and didn't tell me?!"
"Sorry, I didn't want the kids to catch wind."
Steven just chuckled at the banter as he filled their glasses. Well, at least we have each other, and that's something to drink to.
Outside in the Ferns garden, two pairs of green eyes stared at the scene of the trio reminiscing about their youth and smiling despite their red faces. "I never pegged Indigo having a desert base, he hates the heat." Kat commented. "Thanks for calling me over, Elizabeth!"
"Do not call me that." Momakase glared. "I'm surprised you came here the moment I mentioned they had info about the Galaxian Pirates."
"My pirate radar went off in the area and your call gave me a clue of where to go." Kat teased. "But still… that's something I gotta handle. Shame your friend didn't say where it was, I'll have to ask this Grace person."
"I believe Sally is referring to Professor Granville of SFIT, don't try and break into her school, she has security bots." Momakase told them.
"Noted!" Kat leapt onto the roof. "See ya later Liza!"
Momakase rolled her eyes. "And don't try to nickname me!" But as she watched the fading figure of Kat disappear into the night, a small smile appeared on her face.
The smile of relief that her new family, not that she'd call them that, wouldn't be burdened with the threat of the Galaxian Pirates in the near future.
AN: Have an original chapter that's got slightly more focus on the Fern fam! Yeah Sally has been... thru a lot (sorry I had to be evil for this chapter)
But hope you guys enjoyed! Be sure to check out Karmi's Camden Adventure next week, which takes place the same time as this fic!